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VIDEOFor video featuring some winter wonderland ideas, see this story online at postcrescent.com.

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This is part three of YardMD Rob Zimmer’s three-part series on winter gardening.

Create a winter wonderland in your own back yard using a combination of decorative plantings, winter containers, garden art and your own imagination. Transforming your garden into a work of art during the winter is not hard at all.

Extend the life of your garden to all four seasons by using some of these great tips. I’ll help you get more out of your garden, even when the snow flies.

Feathered friends

A great way to add vibrant color to your garden during the winter months is to bring in the birds. And not just the wild ones.

Tufts of snow that form upon the seed heads of perennials such as sedum, coneflowers, hydrangeas, goldenrod, asters and others bring a texture and grace all their own.

Keep the colors of the growing season alive by spray painting the seed heads in various natural or abstract colors.

Ice gardens

Create a spectacular garden of ice by decorating your trees, branches and garden beds with sculptures made from clear and colored ice.

In shallow pans or plastic containers, freeze discs of ice containing colored water, as well as various botanical elements such as the fronds of pines, spruces and cedars, berries, flower petals, fresh herbs, feathers and more.

Freeze a loop of string or ribbon for hanging within each disc and decorate your bare trees and shrubs with these colorful, faux stained glass decorations.

Place colorful painted frames throughout your garden and use them to display winter containers, ice art, decorative bunches of evergreen boughs, berries and more. Erect the frames at various angles for a fabulous 3-D effect and change out the featured artwork throughout the year.

Create your own ice sculptures and painted snow sculptures by forming snow and ice into the shape of a flower, hummingbird, butterfly or other garden theme and create beautiful yard art.

Mix together some snow paint using food coloring and water in a spray bottle and mist over the snow to create colorful petals, songbirds and more.

Create beautiful stained “glass” mosaics on the snow by freezing shallow pans of colored ice, then cracking into various shapes and assembling together to form colorful flowers, bees, butterflies, birds and more.

Light it up

Light up the night garden using ice lanterns made from frozen pails or containers of ice with a hollowed center to hold a candle or LED light.

Freeze bright berries, flower petals, glitter, colored tissue paper, snips of evergreens and more into the water for a beautiful, natural ice lantern.

You can also light up the night using colorful gift bag paper lanterns lined along the path or walkway. Use a variety of different colored paper sacks to create a rainbow of color in the night garden.

Forever flowers

Winter is a great time to practice your woodworking and artistic skills by creating oversized silhouettes of your favorite garden flowers and birds, then painting them and displaying in the winter garden.

Cut out shapes from plywood and display on stakes in the garden. Or mount your newly created treasures to a fence or the side of a shed or garage. You can even change the flowers out as the seasons progress.